Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
broadwaysfguy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/14
#1Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 6:34pm
hey there
would love to hear who are the best cabaret acts out there by top broadway performers? Im a subscriber to a group 5 broadway performers a year in san francisco, and looking for great shows to bring out for fall 2015 and spring 2016
Saw Annaleigh Ashford's cabaret last night and it was a LOT of fun. Also saw Billy Porter, Jeremy Jordan, and Sierra Boggess this year and all of them were great
thanks!
itsshowtime
Swing Joined: 4/18/15
#2Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 6:44pm
I really enjoyed seeing Melissa Errico at Studio 54 last year.
Cupid Boy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/5/13
#2Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 7:17pm
Christine Ebersole's Age Before Beauty is one of the best I've ever seen. The dialogue incorporated into it is incredibly witty and wickedly funny. And of course, there's her incomparable voice. Honestly, it was so beautiful that I sobbed throughout the whole show.
#3Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 9:45pm
I would love to see Ebersole.
I did see Judy Kaye in the early 1980s. She was brilliant, even then.
More recently, I've seen Betty Buckley. She was great, of course, but she was singing songs written for men (the subject of her latest CD) and the material never lived up to the voice, IMO.
Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley make gorgeous sounds, but I could do without the cutesy dialogue. We get it: you're married in real life; I don't really care how you met.
The best I've seen in recent years was Lainie Kazan. Hers was more a concert than cabaret, but it could work in either space. Although I've always liked her, I had no idea she was THAT good!
pc1145N2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/28/07
#4Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 10:04pmI saw Christine Ebersole a few years ago and thought she was brilliant! I've also seen Sutton Foster and really enjoyed her show. I've seen Patti LuPone's cabaret shows a few times as well and always come away thinking how perfect that setting is for her.
Cupid Boy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/5/13
#5Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 10:12pm
"More recently, I've seen Betty Buckley. She was great, of course, but she was singing songs written for men (the subject of her latest CD) and the material never lived up to the voice, IMO."
I have caught that act of Buckley's as well and agree that it never quite lived up to what we know she's capable of delivering vocally due to the setlist. She acted the songs like none other, but it would have been nice to hear her really belt it out. With that said, the medley she performed from Sweeney Todd was particularly chilling and memorable.
#6Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 10:16pm
I worked for several years at THE FABULOUS PALM SPRINGS FOLLIES, where the format included a guest star who did 14-17 minutes at the end of the first act. Not as long as a cabaret act, but anyone who could headline successfully could certainly do an effective club act.
The best during the years I worked there (in no particular order):
Gogi Grant
Mimi Hines
Kay Ballard
Melba Moore.
I had previously seen Grant's cabaret act and was enchanted. She's 81 now and I don't know if she still performs. But depending on the age of your audience, she does a lovely set of standards.
Cupid Boy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/5/13
#7Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 10:21pm
What a treat that must have been. Do you recall any of the specifics of Hines' act? I'd be interested to know if she incorporated any Funny Girl into it.
indytallguy
Broadway Star Joined: 7/13/08
#8Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 10:25pm
Three of the Broadway performers I really enjoyed here in Indianapolis at The Cabaret are: Jonathan Groff, Victoria Clark, and Liz Callaway.
#9Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 10:50pm
Well, of course, there are Patti LuPone and Barbara Cook. If you ahvce a chance to see them in a small cabaret space, RUN do not walk.
Liz Callaway is a treasure in cabaret. Her warmth and her honey-sweet voice shine through. When she sings with her sister, Ann Hampton Callaway, it's a double treat, because Ann is jazz-and-pop and Liz is Broadway-and-pop and they contrast each other with beautiful harmony and love. Here they are singing "Our Time" from Merrily We Roll Along (in which, of course, Liz performed in the original cast):
Two of the finest shows I've seen at 54 Below by Broadway performers have been very different:
"Rebecca Luker Sings Early Jerome Kern" was perfect blend of voice and material. Most of the early Kern songs were charming but unknown to most of the audience, and it was delightful to hear them sung by such a talented performer who happens to have exactly the voice Kern wrote for.
This is from a concert performance not a cabaret show, but it shows Rebecca doing Kern's "Who" with Brent Barrett (who also does a nifty cabaret show himself):
#10Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/20/15 at 10:51pm
The other show was Marin Mazzie's re-creation of the songs she (and we) sang growing up in her parents' home, singing along to records in her bedroom with her hairbrush as a microphone. Here she is giving a phenomenal rendition of Bacharach and David's "Anyone Who Had a Heart":
#11Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/21/15 at 12:14am
Frances Ruffelle does a great show. La Chiusa, Yeston, Finn, etc. I hope she comes back soon.
Beyoncé is not an ally. Actions speak louder than words, Mrs. Carter. #Dubai #$$$
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#12Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/21/15 at 12:49am
I thought David Burtka's act at 54 was just ingenious and utterly original.
#13Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/21/15 at 4:30am
I guess it's no longer "out there" but how can no one mention the best of all, the late Julie Wilson?
How quickly they forget....
#14Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/21/15 at 7:59am
We had a whole thread about Julie Wilson. Don't accuse us of forgetting her.
#14Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/21/15 at 7:59am
We had a whole thread about Julie Wilson. Don't accuse us of forgetting her.
broadwaysfguy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/14
#16Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/21/15 at 10:27am
im so excited to discover some of these acts and be reminded of others.
and of course, im looking for acts that are current and PERFORMING, so Julie Wilson cant really help us now....
also looking for younger broadway stars who may not be as well known yet for their great cabaret acts...
we also saw anna gastayer last year as part of a Stephen Schwartz tribute night(he performed too..it was AMAZING) and anna was incredible....beautiful slow acoustic version of defying gravity that is my favorite....
#17Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/21/15 at 10:37am
Katie Finneran's 54 Below show was truly fantastic; one of the best I've seen. It was illuminating about her life and career, constantly surprising, hysterically funny, and- best of all- did not overstay its welcome.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#18Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/21/15 at 12:42pm
Of the shows that i have seen at 54 Below, Birdland, and the Metropolitan Room, my favourites have been Emily Skinner, James Snyder, and Laura Osnes (singing Maury Yeston). All three were outstanding in terms of vocal performances, acting the songs, and (for my taste) very enjoyable song choices including powerful and moving songs beautifully sung. I also enjoyed the comedy of Annaleigh Ashford's performance at 54 Below.
#19Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/21/15 at 5:17pm
"What a treat that must have been. Do you recall any of the specifics of Hines' act? I'd be interested to know if she incorporated any Funny Girl into it. "
Yes, it's been a few years, but I know she sang "I'm the Greatest Star." Perhaps a ballad as well.
And of course she sang "Till There Was You", and told the story of Jack Paar crying when she sang it on THE TONIGHT SHOW.
Amazingly, her voice has not deteriorated a bit since the album she put out in the late 60s/early 70s! And of course, she is hysterically funny.
Her heyday was before my time (I'm 61 and wasn't old enough to stay up when she was a regular on TONIGHT). But my husband is 72 and remembers her vividly and fondly.
If someone is hiring, I can avow that she is a dream to work with!
#20Fantastic Cabaret Acts By Broadway Performers
Posted: 4/21/15 at 5:23pm
"I guess it's no longer "out there" but how can no one mention the best of all, the late Julie Wilson?
How quickly they forget...."
I both worked with Miss Wilson in a production of SHOW BOAT and saw her cabaret act a few years before she died. I promise you I haven't forgotten a moment. Even when she could no longer really sing, Wilson talked her way through a club act that was riveting!
But I understood the OP to be looking for performers he can book. I don't assume Miss Wilson's relatives want her exhumed.
